Communist ideology similar to Christianity - Putin

Moscow, January 15, Interfax - Communists did not create their own ideology but adapted Orthodox Christianity to their needs, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"Lenin ['s body] was placed inside the Mausoleum. How is that different from any relics of the saints for Orthodox Christians or Christians in general? I am told: "No, there is no such tradition in the Christian world." How come? What about Athos? Go there and see. There are relics of the saints there. And here, too, there are the holy relics of [Saint] Sergius and [Saint] Herman. In other words, the then authorities dreamed up nothing new. They just adapted what the mankind had invented a long time ago to their ideology," Putin said in the documentary film Valaam, from which excerpts were published on the Rossiya 1 (VGTRK) television channel's website.

The Communist ideology is akin to Christianity since the notions of liberty, fraternity, equality, and equity are rooted in the Holy Bible, he added.

"And what about the [Moral] Code of the Builders of Communism? It's sublimation, a primitive excerpt from the Bible. They didn't invent a thing," Putin said.

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